LKBEN10758: Howto know if your os has a 64-bit command prompt or a 32-bit one
LKB | Created: 02/04/2020 | Version: 0 | Language: EN | Rating: 0 | Outdated: False | Marked for deletion: False
Author: Wim Peeters - Keskon GmbH & Co. KG
Symptom
You want to know if the command line you have is 32 or 64 bit
Cause
none
Solution
First of all, you need to open a command prompt. An easy way to find out whether you have a 64-bit or 32-bit command prompt is to use the following command:
CMD>set | find "PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE"
If the above command returns "PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=x86", then you're using a 32-bit command prompt and when it delivers "PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE=AMD64" then you're using a 64-bit one.
On a 64-bit system you can run both command promps. The 64 bit one is located in c:\windows\system32 and the 32 bit one under c:\windows\sysWOW64.
You are reading right, in system32 you will find 64 bit applications and in sysWOW64 you will find 32 bit applications. This is by design.
About the Author
Wim Peeters is electronics engineer with an additional master in IT and over 30 years of experience, including time spent in support, development, consulting, training and database administration. Wim has worked with SQL Server since version 6.5. He has developed in C/C++, Java and C# on Windows and Linux. He writes knowledge base articles to solve IT problems and publishes them on the Lubby Knowledge Platform.